Aswan- Coptic Church & Cemetery

The Coptic church was a clean recently built building still undergoing construction. There is a strong Christian community in Aswan and the church's seating of around 3000 reflected that. It has a dome and as you walk in you can see white Jesus looking down at you. The artistic style reminded me of the mosques of Istanbul but I have to remember that Christian and Islamic art have an intertwined history so I'm not sure what is borrowed from whom.

The lady showing us around was a stiff-lipped-to-hide-her-judgement-but-still-do-good-to-those-in-error sort of woman. She told us about how the oak wood came from America and how the wall paintings were 50 years old taken from the old mosque upon which this one was built. It was clearly a building loved by the Christian community as there were youngsters helping clean it. It was a nice church.

After we tried to get into the Nubian Museum but it wasn't open yet so we decided to make our way to the unfinished Obelisk. I decided we should cut through Aswan Cemetery. It turned into an interesting experience as there were mini mausoleums hundreds of years old there, some supposedly containing local saints. We took momentary respite from the heat in one of them. Some locals had previously placed 2 upturned metal containers in it to form makeshift seats. So we hadn't been the only ones to take sanctuary in these mud brick structures. I managed to get some decent pictures before we got to the other side, only to find the guard tell us he was closing the attraction. Unfortunate.Les mer